Painting has long been the process of choice for applying coatings to surfaces of complex curvature because painting is controllable, reliable, easy, and versatile. The paint can include additives to give the surface desired physical properties. The painting process is well understood and produces quality coatings of uniform properties even when the surface includes complex curvature.
Unfortunately, painting is falling under closer environmental scrutiny because of the volatile solvents used to carry the pigments or the pigments themselves. Therefore, there is a need to replace painting with a process that has less environmental impact.
Furthermore, while painting is well defined, well understood, and common, painting remains an "art" where masters produce better products than novices or apprentices without necessarily being able to account for why or to teach others how.
Paint coatings also often lack the durability that quality-conscious customers demand ever more frequently. The surface must be treated and cleaned. The environment must be controlled during the coating application. Still, painted coatings are vulnerable to damage. Isolated damage may dictate large area repair, such as forcing the repainting of an entire panel.
Finally, spraying inherently wastes paint and is unpredictable because of the "art" involved with the application where improper application cannot be detected until the rework to correct a defect affects a large area even for a small glitch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,496 by Marentic et al. for a drag reduction article describes conformable sheet material (a decal) with surface texturing for application to aircraft flow control surfaces to reduce aircraft drag. The material fits on curved surfaces without cracking, bubbles, or wrinkles because of the pliant properties of the basic carrier film. Marentic's decals are manufactured flat and are stretched to the intended simple curvature. Stretching can be problematic over time if the stretched material shrinks to expose a gap between adjacent decals where weather can attack the surface and the decal-surface interface. Streching problems limit the use of the Marentic decals to surfaces of slowly changing curvature. We incorporate this patent by reference.